EDMONTON — It has become a bit of a drinking game in Edmonton, when general manager Ken Holland sits down behind the microphone at a press conference. Every time he mentions the word “Detroit,” take a drink.
But it was his time running the Reds Wings that lends the most clarity to where today’s Edmonton Oilers have found themselves, on the sidelines with a team that they thought was worthy of a Stanley Cup final.
“Detroit couldn’t win the Cup in ‘94, ’95, ‘96, and they won the Cup in ‘97 and ‘98. I didn’t build a new team,” Holland said. “The team that won the Stanley Cup in Detroit in ‘08 was very similar to the team that lost in the first round to Edmonton in ’06.
“In Detroit, we were a legit Cup contender for 15, 16 years. We won four.”
But when that day finally comes?
“Boy, do you party,” said Holland, taking on that faraway look. “Because it's not a one-year quest. It's a lifetime quest. You can't party enough when you win that thing. It's a party machine.
“Because it's so hard to get your hands on. And I want you to know — I want our fans to know — we're trying.”
The Oilers have accomplished what those ‘94, ’95, ’96 Red Wings team did. Now, they’ve got to take the next step.
The quest does not come with a voucher or guarantee. Ask the San Jose Sharks, who hung around the top for a decade and were rewarded with one six-game taste of the Final in a 2016 loss to Pittsburgh.
But over Holland’s four years, the Oilers have improved their regular season finish from 12th in the National Hockey League, to 11th, to 11th to sixth. He’s had more success than not in the free agent and trade market, and Holland has another summer to tweak a lineup that needs to shade towards defence now, having led the league in offence this season.
“I want you to know… I'm trying,” he said. “We're trying. Other teams are trying. That’s why it’s the Stanley Cup. It’s hard.
“Our guys … they're devastated. I'm devastated. The fanbase is devastated. Why are we devastated? Because we went 14-0-1 heading into the playoffs. We had the second-best record in the National Hockey League behind Boston since Jan. 1. Boston’s devastated.
“There are no guarantees, and givens, and entitlements, because of this and because of that. It's earned. It’s sacrificed (for).”
If the goaltending tandem of Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell is going to stay the same, and it surely is, then it is incumbent on the Oilers to shore up their game defensively. To become a team that can win a game on three goals scored, or on some nights, two.
On a team that scores like this one does, you don’t get a ton of dress rehearsals on 2-1 payoff hockey over the course of the season.
But they’ll get some, and that’s the place where this team has to improve, the quality that stands between them and their goal.
“You spend a summer really looking at new ways of doing things that are appropriate for personnel that you have,” explained Jay Woodcroft. “And then you implement that over an 82-game schedule. So that in the playoffs, those habits that you've built over that schedule show up under pressure.”
Holland declared that he will be back in the GM chair next season, in the final year of the five-year deal he signed, pushing back the rumour that Steve Staios will take over for at least one year. Staios will take on more roles of an assistant GM, Holland said, and it is clear that the grooming process is well underway for the top job here, with Holland turning 68 this year.
As for Woodcroft, he’ll self-evaluate the job he did in his first full season behind an NHL bench. Though he would not take the blame for starting Skinner in all 12 playoff games, as the young goaler increasingly ran out of gas.
“Those are things we’re going to revisit,” he said, adding, “You can not be deaf to the lessons.”
The lessons are more pointed and fewer today than they were three, four years ago. But they are far more crucial.
Figure out how to become a top 10 team in goals against — rather than 17th, as they were this past season — and you might have the key to the safe.
Then, as Holland says, the party can begin.
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